Vending-machine.



B. M. DAVIS.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION 111.20 MAR27, 1911.

1, 173,489. Patented Feb. 29, 1916.

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mlz COLUMEIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. c

B. M. DAVIS.

VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR 27. 19H.

1,173,489. Patented Feb.29,1916.

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B. M. DAVIS.

VENDING MACHINE.

' APPLICATION FILED MAR 27. 1911. 1,173,489, Patented Feb. 29,1916.

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HTTORWEY,

THE COLUMBIA PMNOGRAPH 60., WASHINGTON, D. c.

is deposited, for causing BETI-IUEL M. DAVIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB T0 CLARENCE C. TRAVIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

VENDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 29, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BETHUEL M. DAVIS, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new, original, and useful Improvements in Vending-Machines, of which the following specification, together with the accompanying drawings, is a full and clear disclosure.

My invention relates to coin controlled vending machines and the specific type shown and described in this specification is adapted for vending matches or other commodity in small boxes.

Among the objects of my invention are the following: to provide a vending machine having an improved propelling mecha nism for moving the reservoir and'to provide details of improvement tending to increase the efficiency and serviceability of a device of this character.

To accomplish the foregoing and other useful ends I provide means hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of the device. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. Fig. 3 is a top view of the same, with glass casing removed. Fig. at is a top view of the same with the rack removed. Fig. 5 is a top view of the lower drum of the device. Fig. 6 is a side sectional view of the latch in normal position. Fig. 7 is a similar view of the latch showing how it acts as a look when an attempt is 'niade to operate the device without having deposited a coin. Figs. 8, 9 and 10 show details of the device by means of which defective coins are rejected and by means of which a complete stroke of the device is insured. Fig. 11 is a view similar to that shown in Figs. 6 and 7 showing how the coin unlocks the device.

Referring more in detail to the drawings it will be seen that the aperture 2 for depositing the coin is shown in Fig. 1, as well as a lever or handle 3, adapted to operate back and forth within an arc of a circle and through the medium of which the internal mechanism is operated, when a proper coin the machine to deliver a box at the delivering chamber 4, also shown, from which it may be removed by a purchaser. A glasshood 5, covering and protecting the boxes 6, which are also shown contained within one of four vertical shelves of a revoluble box holder or rack, will be at once recognized. This rack is advanced one quarter of a revolution each time a box is withdrawn.

In Fig. 2 the wall support 9 by which the machine is supported and to which it is looked is shown. The machine need not be supported as it is provided with four pedestals on which it may stand.

Referring to Fig. 3 it will be seen that four shelves or compartments 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the step-by-step revolving rack are shown. In this view is shown the connecting link between the internal mechanism and the stepby-step rotary rack. This link is the finger 11, one end of which is shown held by a screw. This screw is on the reciprocating mechanism controlled by the hand lever 3.

The rotary rack always revolves counter clockwise as seen in this figure. The top of an upright rod about which the rotary rack revolves is also shown in this figure at the center.

In Fig. a the rotary rack is removed to show the top 13 of the base on which the glass hood rests. This top is seen in Figs. 1. and 2, its lower edge indicated and its lower edge is marked by the horizontal line 14 which runs just above the coin slot and just over the hand lever. This top is provided with projections 15, one of which is shown just to the right of the hand lever (Fig. 2) which fit into corresponding notches in the lower frame 16 for the purpose of making the two sections 13 and 16 always register exactly. These top and lower sections form a drum within which is contained the reciprocating mechanism 17 controlled by the hand lever. This inclosed section of the machine is disk-like in general appearance and has a diameter just a trifle smaller than the drum, which contains it. In this figure the reciprocating disk 17 is shown having the hand-lever attached. It has, toward the side nearest the handle, a square opening 18 through which the boxes drop. ()n either side of this square there is an opening in the form of an arc, one are 19 being nearer the center than the other 20, through which the screws or bolts 21, Fig. 3, pass which hold the heads of the drum together. The holes 22 for these screws are shown. This figure also shows a long retracting spring 23, the upper end 24 of near its rim, in the lower right-hand which is attached to the reciprocating disk or plate 17 and the other end 25 of which is attached to a lug 26 on the cover 13 of the drum which has been removed. A section of this lug is shown. This spring is held in place by a collar 27 on the plate and acts to restore the plate to normal. On this plate quadrant (Fig. 1), and near where the coin slot belongs, is shown a coin-controlled latch 28 pivoted at one end (the right end) and provided with a depressing spring 29 at the other end, one end of which spring is shown screwed to the plate and the other resting on top of the end of the latch opposite the coin slot. Normally there is an adjustable screw 30, the nut and head of which are shown. Normally the latch is held raised, its end nearest the depressing spring being so made that it dips down through an opening 32 in the plate and in this normal po-. sition this end rests on the floor of the lower drum head, being thus held raised (see Fig. 6 which shows the latch and its relation to the low drum head). In this position if a coin of proper size is introduced in the slot the coin will assume a position just beneath the screw point and when the hand lever is rotated will prevent the latch from operating, permitting a box to be carried to and released in the delivering channel.

In Fig. 5 the lower drum head 16 may be seen and also the delivering channel at the right and to the left a T-opening 32 into which the end of the latch drops if the lever arm is moved without inserting a coin (see Fig. 7) which shoves the end of the latch in the T-opening and therefore is in locked condition, thereby preventing the reciprocating disk from advancing sufiiciently to release a box into the delivery channel. In this Fig. 5 is shown a second, a double-acting-ratchet arrangement, which comes into play after the first latch. The coin-controlled latch has reached a certain point (see Figs. 8 and 9) and passed beyond, when it can not stop the disk. The pawl. 33 of this second latch is pivoted on the lower drum head but the teeth 34 with which it is designed to cooperate are on a flange 35 depending from the lower face of the disk. A

section of these teeth is shown in this Fig. 5. This latch is double acting, as shown in the Figs. 9, 10 and 11, and insures that after the stroke of the disk and lever arm has gone to a certain point the stroke must be completed, thus insuring the proper action of the rotary rack. Note that in Fig. 4: the delivering channel can be seen through the lower arc slot 19. Note that the pin 30 which engages the coin passes through the disk and that the coin, when introduced in the slot, rests on the lower drum head as shown in Fig. 11.

The rotary rack is carried forward one quarter of a revolution each time that the hand lever, after being drawn forward a full stroke, is allowed to be drawn back by the retracting spring 23, Fig. 4:. This is done by the spring finger 11, Fig. 3, which at the end of the forward stroke engages the forward wall of the partition or shelf which has just delivered a box. The free end of this spring 11 always gives way in passing under a wall of the rotary rack. Fig. 1 shows one of the boxes completely below the top drum head, while the next one is only partly under. The object in this arrangement is to prevent the rotary rack from advancing prematurely. This second box is raised up by the slanting spring finger 11, Fig. t, which drives the rack, since the end that is screwed to the disk passes under the box at the forward stroke of the lever arm and by virtue of its upward slant raises the box sufficiently to clear for the next forward stroke of the rack.

Referring to Fig. 3, and calling the position of the partition shelf of the rotary rack adjacent to the lever arm as the first position, and counting counter-clockwise or as indicated by the arrow, there is at a point between the third and fourth positions a portion cut away in the ring or flange36 at a point 37, which acts as a tooth and-behind which the bottom box in position #3 always drops to prevent the rack from taking a backward step. Therefore, the rack is locked from forward or backward rotation by the boxes themselves Forward rotation can be produced, however, by raising the box in #1 position, but backward rotation is always prevented by the bottom box in the 3d position.

The drum heads, as already stated, are held together by bolts and the glass dome is held in place by a collar 38 large enough to slip down on the dome, but too small to prevent the lower end of the dome from passing through (see Fig. 1). This collar is shown clearly in Fig. l where a portion of the frame just above the lever arm is broken away. This collar has downwardly projecting lugs with a slit on the same side of each, so that by slipping the collar over the dome and letting the lugs pass through proper slots in the top drum head 13, and by then giving the collar a turn, the lugs are all made to lock and a side lug 39, .Fig. 3, on the rim brought to coincide with another side lug 40 on the top drum head, see Fig. 3, both of which are perforated. A pad or other lock can now be applied, see Fig. 2, for protection.

Step by step the mode of operation of the device is as follows: A coin of proper size is put into the coin slot 2, Fig. 1. The. coin, when so inserted, enters and rests just below the coin pin 30 on the coin-controlled latch while the pin and latch are still at normal position, that is, before the lever arm is moved. This position is shown in Fig. 6. The coin so inserted prevents the forward end of the latch (see Fig. 11) from looking with the lower drum head as it passes over the T-opening when the lever arm is rotated. Therotary rack remains still as the lever arm is advanced and does not take its forward quarter step until the lever arm goes back. As the lever arm makes its forward stroke the bottom box in the rack shelf at position 1 is carried forward and the secured end of the finger 11 (Figs. 3 and 1-) which rotates the rack slides under the box which was next to the bottom but which is now the bottom one in position 1 and raises it to unlock the rack for forward rotation. Just before the lever arm completes its forward stroke the free end of the said rack operating finger clears the forward wall of the rack shelf that has been resting in #1 position. By this time the box which was drawn from this shelf 7 and carried forward in the square opening 18 by the reciprocating disk, shown clearly in Figs. 3 and a, has arrived over the delivery channel 1S shown in Fig. 5 and allowed to fall and pass into the delivery basin 4, see Fig. 1. The coin that was inserted in the slot has been retained within a recess formed on the under side of the reciprocating disk. Sections of the walls of this recess are shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 10. In Figs. 8 and 9 the coin is shown against these sections 41 and 42. As the lever arm has advanced the coin has been carried forward by the action of the lever arm and at about the same time the box arrives over the delivery channel the coin arrives over the T- slot (Figs. 5, 8, 9 and 10) and falls in the coin reservoir, which can be seen under the machine, Fig. 2, just to the right of the delivery basin. This reservoir 43 is locked in position by a screw 1 1 (Fig. 5). This reservoir is held by the lugs 45 and &6 which latter one is received by the notch 17. As the lever arm passes back toward normal, the rack is advanced one quarter of a turn and the next shelf 10 arrives at #1 posi- Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the tion and the bottom box drops into the receiving square (Figs. 3 and 4:) ready to be drawn into the delivery basin at the next operation. If the coin is too thin or if it is in the shape of a washer the coin pin 30 will fail to lift the coin-controlled latch 28 sufficiently or at all and the advance of the reciprocating disk and of the lever arm will be checked before the double-acting pawl 33, Figs. 8, 9 and 10, comes into action and no commodity will be delivered. In fact the lever arm will have to be permitted to return back and as it does so the coin will be engaged by a slanting flange 48 on the under face of the reciprocating disk which draws the coin into the delivering channel, returning it to the purchaser. section of this slanting flange is shown in Figs. 8 and 9 just in front of the coin. It is also shown in Fig. 10.

WVhat 1 claim is 1. A commodity holding device having a rotatable rack, boxes adapted to fit in said rack, a reciprocating latch controlled mechanism for rotating said rack in one direction, a ratchet mechanism for preventing rotation in an opposite direction, in which mechanism the boxes act as the pawl and the machine frame as a detent.

2. A commodity holding device having a vertically disposed rotatable rack, boxes adapted to fit in said rack, a reciprocating mechanism for rotating said rack in one direction, a ratchet mechanism for preventing rotation in an opposite direction, in which mechanism the boxes act as the pawl and the machine frame as a detent.

3. A commodity holding device having a step-by-step vertically disposed rotatable rack, boxes adapted to be carried by said rack, a mechanism for rotating said rack, a ratchet device for preventing rotation in the same direction, in which device the boxes act as the pawl and the frame of the machine as a detent BETHUEL M. DAVIS.

\Vitnesses J. NoRBY, S. LEWIS.

Commissioner of Eatents,

Washington, D. C. 

